An unexpected severe earthquake struck the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. I would like to express my deepest condolences to the victims of the earthquake and offer my sincere prayers for the safety of people in the disaster-stricken areas and for their early recovery.

The Tohoku region is important for SII due to the high concentration of manufacturing sites in the area, but fortunately the safety of all SII and SII group companies’associates was confirmed and our buildings and facilities did not sustain any serious damage. I would like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to our clients and stakeholders for the significant assistance and cooperation we received from them to resume operations.

With lessons learned from the earthquake disaster, I am striving to develop the “indomitable SII”, while making a commitment to help rescue and relief efforts in the affected communities and throughout Japan based on our core values of “Integrity, Trust, and Appreciation”.

The publication in November 2010 of International Standard ISO 26000, Guidance on social responsibility, encouraged SII to revise the SII Group Charter of Corporate Behavior. The revised Charter of Corporate Behavior emphasizes our focus on the responsibility of senior management in corporate management, corporate social responsibility, and compliance. Our associates play a key role in corporate activities. I would like each and every associate to understand and implement the Charter of Corporate Behavior, to ensure more associates have a strong ethical sense. A sense of ethics is essential in a society in which fierce competition exists. I would like to establish and maintain SII’s corporate culture, involving competition that comprises a strong sense of ethical behavior. With this goal in mind, I will continue to strive to further develop human resources.

In many regions across the world, people’s expectations for corporations to live up to their social responsibilities have been raised and diversified. Corporations must understand the expectations and issues of each region and society while, at the same time, giving appropriate consideration to the total impact of their business operations. As a global corporation with worldwide subsidiaries and affiliate companies that benefit both from local communities and society at large, SII practices fair business with integrity by respecting workers and effectively communicating with local communities. I sincerely hope that the implementation of SII’s social responsibilities will help contribute to resolving social issues.

Japan’s and the world’s energy situation is about to shift, in part due to the experience of the devastating Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Increasing utilization of highly safe, renewable energy is more necessary than ever to prevent global warming. SII has been and will continue to be deeply committed to our CO2 emissions reduction strategy, and will continue to explore possibilities of utilizing renewable energy.

We have also been focusing on incorporating our environmental consciousness into our products. In addition to the “SII Green Products” that improve the environmental performance of our own products, we have established “SII Green Products plus” based on the concept of improving the environmental performance of end products as well as contributing to preserving the environment we all share. We will continue to further improve our manufacturing technologies to help improve the global environment.

Along with preventing global warming, biodiversity conservation is also a critical issue. The Nagoya protocol and the Aichi target were adopted at the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2010. Corporations must fulfill their responsibilities to preserve biodiversity.

SII established a “Biodiversity Action Agenda” in April 2011. By utilizing this agenda, we will contribute to biodiversity conservation while gaining a clearer understanding of the impact of our business activities on biodiversity.